"The plain will be landing shortly! Please put your seats in the upright position and close all trays! I hope you enjoyed your flight, and have a great time in China!" A man's voice said over the plains intercom. Kai let out a sigh putting his seat back up. He'd been sleeping almost the whole flight tired from the lack of sleep he'd gotten lately. He glanced over at the seat beside him where Tala was sitting staring out the window. Kai had allowed him to sit there so he could see the scenery below them. Kai didn't care much about it. He'd seen it before, and, besides that, Tala had practically gotten down on his knees and begged him for the seat saying there was no point in him sitting there if he was just going to sleep. So in the end Kai had given in not wanting the boy to make any more of a scene and embarrass him.
The plane landed a few minutes later and they slowly got off. This made Tala start up his complaining again. He was asking why Kai didn't just buy first with his grandpa's money so they could get better seats and get off quickly. He also kept going on about how he wanted to get off fast and look for a good hotel, and go 'Ray hunting'. Kai was getting annoyed at the fact he kept saying they were going 'Ray hunting'. He'd never actually agreed to go looking for Ray. He just wanted to come to China to relax and hide out for a bit. He was also trying hard not to snap at Tala and just tell him where Ray's village was so he'd shut up, seeing as he already had a rough idea of where it was.
They finally got off the plain and through the airport with their bags exiting out to where the cars came to pick people up. Tala had stayed inside the airport to use their phone to call a cab. Kai leaned against the airport wall with his arms crossed looking up at the sky. It was a dark blue and the moon was just off to the left from where he was standing. There were a few faint stars, but most of them weren't visible with the airports lights on. It was chilly out, and most people going in and out of the airport were wearing heavy coats. This weather didn't bother Kai though. It was much colder in Russia when he and Tala left than it was here in China at the moment, but Kai still had his light jacket and scarf on.
Tala came racing out of the airport doors a few minutes later having gotten them a ride. "Where are we going to be staying anyways?" Tala asked Kai as he came to stand by him and looked up to see what he was staring at.
"I was thinking about a small motel close to the hotel we stayed at during our tournament here," Kai told him with a shrug. Tala looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"A Motel, Kai? Aren't motels where people looking for a good time go for a cheap room so they don't mess up their own place?" he asked jokingly. "You didn't drag me all the way here so you could take me to a crummy place and do things without anyone else finding out, did you?"
"Is it that obvious?" Kai asked seriously looking over at Tala to catch a slight blush before he began to grin.
"Did you just make a joke?" he asked. Kai shrugged and Tala laughed. "I didn't know you had it in you to make a joke like that, and so seriously too! I'd be giggling too much for it to be convincing!" He yelled over his own laughter. "But seriously, we're using your money for a five star hotel, right?"
"Hn," Kai replied as a cab pulled up and he went over to it to ask who it was picking up.
The cab followed Kai's directions to a small two floor, dirty looking building making Tala soon realize that Kai wasn't joking about the place they'd be staying. At first Tala stayed in the cab waiting for Kai to get back in and say he really was joking, but when he started to walk towards the front office building Tala said bye to the driver and got out of the cab racing after him. He followed Kai through the front doors and watched as he bought a room with change he'd taken out of a bank machine at a corner store they'd stopped at on the way over. Kai then got a key from the man behind the counter, who'd been staring at Tala suspiciously ever since Kai told him he wanted a small, one bed, room, and then turned a told Tala to follow him.
To Tala the room Kai had bought was defiantly the definition of small. There were no other doors going in or out of the room, or a window, it had one Double size bed, an old 20 inch TV on a small two drawer dresser at the foot of the bed, a night stand with a lamp on it on one side of the bed and another with a phone on it on the other, and a bathroom with a small sink, toilet, and shower. The room smelt faintly of cigarettes, the carpet looked stained in a spot outside the bathroom, and the wall behind the bed looked very beat up with chipped paint and cracks along it. Tala stood in the middle of the room, which was between the TV and bed, and looked around hugging himself. He was too scared to touch anything, which was hard since the room was so cramped. Everything in the room looked dirty to him, and the smell was making his eyes water slightly. He hadn't even taken off his shoes yet.
He looked over at Kai, who'd just come out from using the bathroom, and gave him a pleading look. "What?" Kai asked throwing his bag on the floor beside the bed and sitting down bringing his feet up. Tala flinched away from him. He couldn't even begin to imagine the people who'd stayed in this room and what they'd probably done in it, and he defiantly couldn't believe that Kai wasn't at all fazed staying here.
"I can't stay here," he told Kai his voice sounding a little panicked. "This room is making me paranoid. If we don't leave I'm going to be standing here all night."
"Tala, they clean the rooms," Kai told him. "I'm sure everything is cleaned thoroughly every day. If they didn't I'm sure they'd be shut down by now." Tala shook his head shaking slightly now. "You're not a germophobic, are you? Because if you are you've sure done a good job hiding it," Kai said crossing his arms.
"If I was afraid of germs I'd be living in a bubble! This room just doesn't feel right to me!" Tala snapped at him hugging himself tighter.
"It's not any worse than the Abby's rooms," Kai informed him in a sour tone from having to bring the Abby up. "If anything it's a little better." Tala bit his lip taking deep breaths.
"Can we at least change to a four star or a three star hotel?" he asked in a slight whine. Kai glared at him.
"Tomorrow, maybe, I already paid enough for us to stay until tomorrow afternoon," he told him. "Now, come lie down and get some sleep, otherwise the nights going to go on forever." Tala shook his head. He really didn't feel right getting into that bed.
Kai let out and angry sigh and slid to the foot of the bed so he was sitting right in front of Tala. "Just don't sleep under the blankets," he told him yanking one of his arms away from his body making the boy's arms fill with Goosebumps.
"Let go of me!" Tala yelled trying to yank his arm back, but it was useless. He hadn't gotten any sleep on either plain trip like Kai had, and was almost exhausted. The only thing that was keeping him from getting on the bed and falling into a deep sleep was the fact that every time he looked at it images of unknown people he didn't want flashed through his head, along with every time he looked over to the bathroom and saw the stain on the floor.
He pouted at Kai as the boy pulled him closer to him and the bed. "I don't want to lie down on that thing!" Tala whined loudly sounding like he was a spoilt little kid.
"Shut up, you're going to give people the wrong idea," Kai growled at him, and Tala went slightly pink.
"No I'm not! You're just thinking perverted!" he yelled jerking his arm back again, but failing to get free. "You're supposed to be thinking about what you're going to say to Ray when we hunt him down!" Kai raised an eyebrow at him. But, "Hn," was all he said before pulling on Tala's arm hard making him fall beside him on the bed. "Why didn't you get a two bed room?" Tala asked sounding like he was going to cry.
"Because I don't need to waste money on things we don't need," Kai told him moving back to the spot he was at before he moved to the foot of the bed, and let go of Tala's arm.
Tala lay still face down on the bed feet hanging over the edge for a few minutes, Kai not bothering to deal with him anymore. Kai had instead just turned the light beside the bed off and laid down on top the blankets. The truth was he didn't really trust the bed or the room either, but one of them had to act strong and Kai guessed it was his turn. He'd spent the last two nights being depressed and crying over Ray, and he felt it was time he got back to his normal self so Tala didn't worry over him anymore. The only thing that was bugging him now was the fact that Tala might actually find Ray while they were here. The only area of China Kai knew well enough to stay at was close to Ray's village and Tala could stumble on it at any moment. And if Tala did end up finding it Kai didn't know what he'd do. Part of him felt like he'd just lock himself in the room with the deadbolt, so Tala's key wouldn't work, and cry, another part of him wanted to find Ray so he could yell at him or anything and everything, and the last part wanted to find him so he could finally tell him how he felt before it was too late again. Out of all three of those there was more of a chance of him seeing Ray, but the yelling part completely over powered the talking about his feelings part.
Kai rolled over onto his side. He was unable to sleep and Tala still seemed to be in a state of shock at the foot of the bed. He was laying there completely motionless besides his breathing, and Kai kicked him lightly. He stirred slightly, and Kai kicked him again making him groan and look up. "What do you want?" he asked a little bitterly.
"I want you to come up here and go to sleep," Kai told him. "And I've decided we're going to move to a four star hotel tomorrow." Tala gave a little smirk.
"I knew you didn't like it here!" he said happily crawling up beside him. "It'll be so cool to get something nice to stay in, something with a big room, TV, maybe a kitchen!" Kai raised an eyebrow at him. He didn't sound at all like he'd been in a complete state of shock a few minutes before.
"What's up with you and these mood swings?" Kai asked in a mumble into his pillow.
"Maybe I'm just a good actor. Ever think of that?" Tala asked grinning.
"Well if you are than how'd you get so good?" he asked. His eyes were starting to get heavy now that Tala was beside him. He was more use to sleeping with someone else while in new places, like hotels, while he traveled than he was sleeping alone. It was always Ray he'd slept beside though, so even with Tala there it was harder than usually to fall asleep because it was easy for him to tell the difference.
"Lots of practice on Bryan," Tala laughed weakly. "It used to be fun fooling around with him until he started to threaten to kill me for making him blush in front of Ian and Spencer, although he said he was turning red with rage, not blushing. And after I was sure I could make him show any emotion I wanted on cue by changing mine I figured I could do it to anyone. He'd lost all his emotions, besides anger, and was slowly recovering after all."
"So then how do I know you weren't lying about caring about me back in Russia? How do I know that you weren't acting so you could figure out what the letter was about because you were just that interested?" Kai asked him his voice turning into even more of a mumble.
"Well I came with you China, didn't I? And I'm your friend, aren't I?" Tala asked him finding his hand and grabbing it.
"Hn," Kai answered and then yawned making Tala yawn too. Tala squeezed his hand a little, and, unlike the last time he'd done it, Kai squeezed back lightly. Tala smiled as he closed his eyes and fell asleep.